


not for naught

by lavenderlotion



Series: Short, Sweet, SFW Saturday [25]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, Canon Divergence - Post X-Men: First Class (2011), Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Painting, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:41:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27083545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/pseuds/lavenderlotion
Summary: “This is going to be fun,” Charles had told him, the two of them tangled up together in bed that morning, enthusiasm dripping from his voice and a smile on his face so beautiful Erik hadn’t a hope of saying no.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: Short, Sweet, SFW Saturday [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1451083
Comments: 20
Kudos: 44





	not for naught

**Author's Note:**

  * For [midrashic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/midrashic/gifts).



> For Mid, who asked for: _”cherik, painting. maybe they go to a painting for two class or something”_
> 
> also, this fic means I've posted 300k+ of x-men fic in the last 11 months!

“This is going to be fun,” Charles had told him, the two of them tangled up together in bed that morning, enthusiasm dripping from his voice and a smile on his face so beautiful Erik hadn’t a hope of saying no. 

It had been Angel’s idea, apparently, for the two of them to get out of the mansion and do something together as a couple. There wasn’t much that they  _ could _ do, considering the times, but that didn’t stop Erik from wanting. After all, it wasn’t a bad idea. The two of them had poured all of themselves into getting the school up and running, with the help of the X-Men and the Brotherhood, and they had done quite a commendable job at building a future for mutantkind. 

If Erik did say so himself, and he certainly did. 

Still, it had been  _ months _ since the two of them had even a moment alone. Despite sharing a room, sharing a  _ bed, _ it felt like they never spent any time together. And it was... grating, Erik would have to say, to spend all day within the walls of the same mansion and come together each night, and still feel like they’d become strangers somewhere along the way. 

There was just so much to do. Charles had warned him, during the long months of his physical therapy under Hank’s guiding hand, that there was going to be much to do. Erik hadn’t doubted him, but he also hadn’t realized just how  _ much _ would go into starting a school that doubled as a safe haven for their kind.

It  _ was  _ a lot of work. Gruelling, challenging,  _ fulfilling _ work that Erik and Charles both loved, but... it had taken its toll on the two of them. The others apparently saw it, as the younger members of their team had started stepping up to complete tasks they’d previously scoffed at. Sean, interestingly enough, had become a huge help in the recruiting outings they went on—there was something about the young boy’s sunny disposition that easily disarmed the parents of young, mutated children. 

Even with their help, however, he and Charles were still overworked and overtired. Angel, Raven and Emma had come to them just this past week and told them that they needed to take a break and “reconnect”. Apparently both their tiredness and distance had become noticeable to their teams, and the young women in their life demanded they do something about it. 

And so that was how Erik found himself planted on a tall bar-like stool, situated inside a High School art classroom, staring at a canvas and doing his very best not to punch a hole through it out of frustration. There were other people around them, humans (which Erik had first curled his lip up about), who all looked like they were enjoying themselves far more than Erik. 

Erik, whose frustration was growing higher and higher each time he laid his brush against the stretched material and made his painting somehow, miraculously, worse. Oh mein Gott, Erik cursed to himself, what in the hell was going on! 

Just as he was slamming his soiled paintbrush into his cup of muddied water angrily, he felt Charles brush gently across his thoughts in a way that was undoubtedly meant to ebb his mounting frustration.

It did not. 

“Erik... is that supposed to be me? I'm not that ugly!” Charles told him with a laugh, sitting beside him at a low, child’s table that he was able to wheel himself up to and  _ peaking!  _

“You’re not supposed to look!” Erik protested in a voice that sounded suspiciously like a  _ whine. _ “I’m not finished yet, Charles.”

“No, of course not,” Charles told him kindly, however the gentle edge to his voice rubbed Erik the wrong away, already feeling a touch too sensitive over the fact that Charles’ skin tone was looking almost... green. 

He hadn’t even touched the green paint! 

“Not all of us can be so multi-talented, now can we, Charles?” Erik snapped with more annoyance than was deserved. 

_ I didn’t mean to tease, my love, _ Charles pressed into his mind, words he couldn’t speak in such a public space. Maybe one day.  _ The point isn’t to make something good, but to have fun. _

_ Well I’m not having fun, _ Erik sulked at him, feeling his brows crease even further when he snuck a quick glance at Charles’ canvas to see a  _ gorgeous _ abstract work of deep blues and bright, vivid yellows, mixed together with black and spots of fiery reds, brushed over with strong patches of a white that nearly sparkled.  _ That’s brilliant, _ he told him, rather annoyed.  _ They’re going to love it.  _

_I rather thought they might like something for their room, once they finally admit that they spend every night together,_ Charles sent back, along with a warm rush of brotherly fondness he held for Raven and a sense of distant joy he felt for his little sister finding two women who absolutely cherished her. 

Erik pouted back at his canvas and decided that he didn’t care what these bigoted humans thought. In a bid at saving his painting, he grabbed a clean brush and dipped it directly into the red paint, before he began directing the perimeter of the canvas with little hearts. Erik thought that they took some of the attention away from Charles’ pallor. 

Very good. 

Trapping his tongue between his teeth as he focused, Erik dipped a very fine brush into a bright blue then swirled it through with some glitter, before he carefully painted over the spot of black where Charles iris should be. He sat back and stared critically at his most recent additions, and felt, finally, a smile bloom over his face. With the border of bright red hearts and the glittering blue expanse of Charles’ eyes, the painting was, in Erik’s opinion, saved. 

Maybe this painting class wasn’t for naught after all. 

As he listened to Charles talk warmly about their newest students and the plans he had for them, his mind brushing warmly against his own and feeling like a hand held in his own, he felt quite certain it wasn’t for naught at all. 

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi to me on [tumblr](https://lavender-lotion.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> kudos aren’t the same as getting a comment, not even close. so a comment, as short and sweet or as sprawling and sporadic as you can manage, would be _greatly_ appreciated! don't know what to comment? how about _”this was great!”_ or _“awesome work!”_
> 
> i run an 18+ x-men discord server! check it out [here!](https://discord.gg/3uG3VNP)


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